Puzzle.



No. 638,437. Patented Dec. 5, |899.

` C. R. BENNETT.

PUZZLE.

A dMay (No Model.)

if' ym @Hoff/mma CHARLES R. BENNETT, OF TULLYTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

PUZZLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of ietters Patent No. 638,437, dated December 5, 1899.

Application ile. May 4, 1899. Serial No. 715,576. (N0 model- To @ZZ whom, t may con/007%'.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES R. BENNETT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Tullytown, in the county of Bucks and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Puzzles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to puzzles, the object of the same being to provide a simple and cheap construction of device of this character which is difficult to solve, lout which may be solved by the exercise of ingenuity, skill, and patience on the part of the operator.

The invention consists of a box or recepta cle having side walls, an inclined plate or board pivoted at a point nearer to one end than to the other upon standards rising from the bottom of the box, said plate or board having a recess or depression in the upper surface of its shorter arm, and a rolling object or ball which is adapted by certain manipulations of the box or casing to be rolled along the upper surface of the inclined plate or board and be seated in the recess at one end thereof.

The invention also consists in certain details of construction and combinations of parts, which will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the drawings forming part of this speciiication, Figure l is a perspective view of my improved puzzle, and Fig. 2 is a detail crosssectional View of the inclined plate or board employed.

Like reference-numerals indicate like parts in the dierent views.

In carrying out my invention I employ a box or receptacle 1, preferably, but not necessarily, rectangular in form, having vertical side walls 2. The bottom of the box, adjacent to one of the walls 2 thereof, is formed with a triangular recess or depression 3, and adjacent to the opposite wall are a pair of uprights or posts 4 4, connected at their upper ends by a rod or pin 5, as clearly shown. In connection with these parts I employ an inclined plate or board 6, which is secured at a point nearer to one end than to the other to the rod or pin 5, so as to provide a pivotal connection between said plate and the uprights 4. In the top surface of the shorter arm of the plate or board 6 is formed a depression or recess 7, with which communicates a groove S, leading to the lower end of said plate or board. The said groove is preferably cut or formed upon a wavy or irregular line, as shown. Ooperating` with the parts above described is a ball or other rolling object 9.

The object of the puzzle is to seat the ball 9 in the recess 7. In effecting this object the box or casing lis manipulated first to get said ball in the recess 3, which, as shown, liesadjacent to the lower end of the plate or board G. By` then tilting the box the ball is caused to roll upon the upper surface of the plate or board 6, being.,r guided in its movements by the groove 8 to the recess or depression 7. As said plate or board is very sensitively piv` oted, however, extreme care will have to be exercised in order to prevent the ball from passing beyond the recess, thereby overbalancing said board and falling back into the box or receptacle l.

The puzzle will be found quite difficult to solve for a beginner; but by the exercise of care, skill, and a steady hand it is possible to so manipulate the box that the ball will readily roll upon the plate or board 6 and be seated in the recess 7 without tilting said board. It will of course be understood that the point of pivotal connection between the plate or board and the uprights 4 and the relative weights of the two arms of the plate or board with respect to the ball 9 will be so adjusted that when said ball rests within the recess 7 it will just counterbalance the weight of the long arm of said plate or board. i

The device is extremely simple in construction, can be cheaply made, and will be found to afford considerable variety and consequent pleasure in its solution.

It is obvious that numerous changes in the detail arrangement shown and described can be made without departing from my invention, and I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the specific details shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A puzzle comprising a receptacle, an inclined plate or board pivotally mounted at a point nearer one end than the other and having a pocket in its shorter arm, the longer IOO a scarlet arm of said plate or board overbalancing the shorter arm and normally resting against the bottom of said receptacle, and a rolling object adapted to traverse the plate or board and seat in said pocket and thereby balance said plate or board.

2. A puzzle comprising an inclined plate or boardhavinga longitudinal guide-groove and pivotally mounted at a point nearer to one end than to the other, and having a recess or pocket in its shorter arm communicating with said groove, and a ball adapted to run up the groove and be seated in said recess and thereby balance said plate or board.

3. A 'puzzle comprising a receptacle, an inclined plate or board pivotally mounted nearer to one end than to the other, having a recess or pocket in the upper surface of its shorter arm, and a groove leading from said recess to the lower end of said board, the longer arm of the 'plate or board over-balancing the shorter arm andv normally resting against the bottom of said receptacle, and a rolling object adapted to be guided by said groove and seated in said recess and thereby balance said plate or board.

4:. A puzzle comprising an inclined plate or board pivotally mounted at a point nearer to one end than to the other, having a recess or pocket in its shorter arm, and an irregular or wavy groove leading from said recess to the lower end of said board, and a rolling object adapted to be guided by said groove and to be seated in said recess.

5. A puzzle comprising a box or receptacle having upwardly-extending walls, and a recess in the bottom thereof, apair of nprights rising from the bottom of said box, an in clined plate or board pivoted at a point'nearer to one end than to the other upon said uprights and havingits lower end lying adjacent to the recess in said box or receptacle, the upper surface of said plate or board hav ing a recess or depression on one side of its pivotal point, and a groove leading from said recess to the lower end of said board, and a rolling object adapted to be guided by said groove and be seated in said recess. v

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES R. BENNETT. 

